that is the business of the executive branch of the white house and the office of the white house. >> corruption is not the business, or it shouldn't be, of the white house or anyone in it. >> the white house decides to do with their privileged communication is the business of the white house. >> do you believe that's true even if that communication involves crime or fraud? i'm sure you're aware that there is an exception to any claim of privilege. the privilege can't be used to conceal crime or fraud? >> this is before any crime or fraud that should be referred to the justice department for investigation. as i did. >> the whistleblower further alleges that white house officials told the whistleblower they were directed by white house lawyers to remove the electronic transcript, that is, of the call from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored. and instead it was loaded into a separate electronic system that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. one white house official described this act as an abuse

white house officials told me, this is the whistle-blower, they were directed by white house lawyerselectronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored for finalization and distribution to cabinet level officials. the whistle-blower goes on to write, instead this transcript was loaded into a separate electronic system that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. >> this raises -- the president said this call was perfect in his words. why then the extraordinary step of removing the records of this call from the normal record keeping system long established by this white house? we have jeffrey toobin as well as our panel. jeffrey, you read this complaint. it backs up a lot of the smoke signals that we have heard coming out about the whistle-blower to this point. >> more than that is that, remember, this was written before the transcript or partial transcript that was released yesterday. the whistle-blower is completely corroborated in his or her assertions about that phone call. >> right.

that prompted white house officials to limit access to the transcript of that conversation, a patternn that damning whistle-blower complaint. joining us former house republican intelligence committee chairman mike rogers and eric ericsson. chairman rogers, what do you make of this new "washington post" report now? >> it's very concerning for me if it in fact is true. the president seems to have a very hollywood, sinister struvif what american intelligence is about and not concerned with the russians and how they conduct themselves around the world. a, it's absolutely wrong and, b, it's a little offensive because you're telling our adversaries it's kind of okay to do what you do, keep at it. that is, in my mind, a little bit dangerous. the russian, by the way, will take it that way. >> eric, just from your standpoint, i'm wondering how you see just the events of this past week. i follow you on twitter and stuff. there's so much to talk about but what do you make of this? how serious do you see this from your standpoint and do you think other republicans see this? >> i definitely think

the white house has not been forthcoming as yet. >> carol lee and natasha, ladies, thank you very muchning us. >>> earlier today house speaker nancy pelosi sat down for an exclusive interview. she gave a preview of how the democratic party plans to make the case for the impeachment of president trump. >> this is about the constitution of the united states, the clarity of the president's actions is compelling and gave us no choice but to move forward. this is as serious as it gets when it comes to protecting the constitution of the united states. the oath of office that we take, i think the president violated that oath. >> joining me now from capitol hill, nbc news correspondent jeff bennett. jeff, walk us through the next steps. >> well, katy, we now know that the house intelligence committee will continue to take the lead in this ukraine investigation. interestingly enough, one of the other things the house speaker said in that interview on ""morning joe"" is that evening as these other house investigations continue into the findings of the muller probe, to trying to access the presid

why that location at the white house? arrival is very special. it is a welcoming. iteyou to house. very symbolic around the world. shot of the press facade of american totem is very symbolic around the world and certainly to prime minister mrs. morrison. that will be the shot sent around australia. having their prime minister stand in the significant space the president of the united states and first lady. host: who do we see at north portico before we see the president of the united states and first lady? capricia: first you will have people running around scampering to make sure things are clear and clean and in place. tom the white house butlers the ushers office. there are so many people that make sure every detail of this visit has been taken care of. spec of dustere a on the red carpet? then you have the entrance of our military. it makes me so proud to watch that entry. and take theirgh position in the flanked semi circle fashion that you sigh a moment ago. then they stand behind the commander-in-chief. is sending a message. here we are, not just the presiden

joining me tonightyamiche alcindor, white house correspondent for the pbs nehour philip rucker, white bureau chief for the washiton post. ncy cordes, chief congressional correspondent for orcbs news.it and n collins, white house correspondent for cnn. let's begin with spea pelosi's decision. here isaihat she sd thursday. >> it's a sad week for our country. very prayerfully andate oticly, we had t-- pat patriotically, we had to come to a decision to move forward with an impeachment inquiry of the president of tf united states. this is notng that w take lightly. we wante o have a fuller understanding of the facts. >> why was this complaint the democrats?oint for house nancy, you've been on pitolpi hill all week. i've seen you in the hallways. why now? for speake pelosi? >> a couple of reasons. number one, this complaint, this ise, democrats feel, is easier for the ameri public to unrstandhan the russia issue. it g os to the heartf thert president's actions, wreas the mueller investigigion that we all lived tough for two years had to do with a lot of people around t president, lers remov

democrats take firm control, not just of the process, but also of the narrative because what the white house will try to do every day is disrupt it. and what is encouraging about the depositions moving so quickly is that the house is in recess for two weeks. unlike after the mueller report where you really didn't hear from democrats, it appears democrats are going to move and work during the two weeks. very important good move. >> with the words of advice, stand by a little bit. we will bring in our next guest, california congressman, one of the seven democratic a freshmen from districts who won by trump who penned an op-ed last week. representative, you heard what david jolly was saying. are you moving forward in a firm way? >> well, we need to get to the bottom of this. the american people deserve to know the answer of what actually happened with this phone call, what the president was doing and trying to entice a foreign government to get involved in our elections and putting our national security at risk. so we need to move quickly. that's what the chairman is doing. we are moving in a s

a cnn white house official said, quote, nfc meeting financial security lawyers directed the white house document be handled appropriately. what you could read into that is there is a national security council luawyer who instriktuct his staff to move this transcript to an area where they're not normally kept, because even though the president is on twitter this morning questioning the credibility of this whistleblower, this backs up a key part of the complaint from the whistleblower. look at the complaint. the white has been dismissing it, saying he's imparting inaccurate information. the whistleblower said, quote, one of the officials said they were directed by white house lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically scored for coordination, finalization and distribution to cabinet-level officials. so it is significant. even though the president is doubting this person's credibility, behind the scenes white house officials on background, meaning not using their name, are confirming, yes, white house lawyers did direct staf

it was a white house memorandum. here you have the leader of republicans in the house of representatives who hasn't even read the transcript, who hasn't even read that memorandum, because everybody that read it said the most important line, the most germane line was the one that scott pelly read him, i'm going to need something from you, though, and kevin m he did know it was in the transcript. >> it's a stunning moment. we've got the transcript in front of me. the president, i would like you to do us a favor, though. nobody in the white house seems to have understood that the information in the transcript itself put together with the facts that are known about what was happening in that period paint a picture of a president requesting the most personal political advantage from a new ukrainian president who was at that time facing a u.s. arms embargo. the commander of the ukrainian army on the ground who needed weapons we had promised them, congress had voted to give them were waiting for their arrival. they were held

an absolute cover-up by the white house. mr. lewandowski is here and has vital information about presidential obstruction of justice. the white house wants to limit our ability to hear it all. mr. lewandowski was called alone, one-on-one, into the oval office on june 19, 2017, and again on july 19, 2017, and the president did something i find startling. he dictated the speech to mr. lewandowski, not for mr. lewandowski, but for then attorney general mister sessions. he told mr. lewandowski to put the following words in the a.g.'s mouth. quote, i am going to meet with the special prosecutor to explain this is very unfair and let the special prosecutor move forward with investigating election meddling in future elections, so nothing can happen in future elections. the quote is from volume 2, page 91 of the mueller report. as the report found, limiting the investigation to future elections would've cut off any past conduct. it would've ended the investigation of the president's conduct. the evidence found by the special counsel met

quote, white house officials told me they were directed by white house lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which transcripts are typically stored. instead it was loaded into a separate system otherwise used to store classified information of an especially sensitive nature. one white house official described this act as an abuse of the electronic system because the call did not cop tain anything sensitive from a national security perspective. the reason they're now in so much trouble because they got caught red handed but there's also more. because this was not just contained in the white house. according to the whistle-blower a state department official listened in. and it gets even worse from there because after the whistle-blower is talking to all these people who are all pretty torn up about this, they think they've watched the president, violate his oath, abuse his power and he makes the complaint, takes the risk to make the complaint, and then the acting director of intelligence sends it over to the department of justice for advice on what to do

diplomat, has now suddenly resigned. >> the white house in crisis. have learned mike pompeo has been subpoenaed by three house committees. >> democrats saying if they don't get this and other subpoenas it will only strengthen their case for impeachment. >> impeach any president over a phone call like this would be insane. >> the president is blatantly extorting a foreign leader. >> no push, no pressure, no nothing. it's all a hoax, folks. it's all a big hoax. >>> welcome this saturday morning. we're glad to have you with us. we're following major news. secretary of state mike pompeo has been subpoenaed to turn over documents related to ukraine and the whistle-blower scandal. he's already missed two deadlines. his third and final chance to hanlds them over is now on file. >>> kurt volker is now out of a job. resources tell cnn he resigned yesterday. the whistle-blower complaint says volcker advised ukrainian leaders how to deal with president trump and rudy giuliani. >>> the "washington post" reported in 2017 president trump told two russian officials

pamela, tell us how the white house is explaining this move? >> basically with the statement out this morning, the white house is acknowledging that, yes, an nfc lawyer directed the conversation between president trump and the ukranian president to be moved to a classified system, but officials said it was appropriate. the way white house officials are explaining this is, look, the transcript was already classified so we didn't do anything wrong by moving it to a separate system, but it is important to know that this was in a highly classified system. we've seen from the transcript that it didn't meet the bar for that highly classified information. the move is unusual, but this was a statement given to us this morning. let me just read it. nfc lawyers directed that the highly classified document be handled appropriately. just to take a step back, the way this would work is you have a lawyer that normally handles national security issues that would reach out to the intelligence director and say, hey, i want you to move this to your system, becau

was there a coverup in the white house? the acting director of national intelligence grilled today, asked why he held onto the whistle-blower's complaint. why he went to the white house first and not congress. he acknowledged the whistle-blower did the right thing. and tonight, what the whistle-blower's complaint now public reveals. he says white house officials were alarmed by that phone call with the ukrainian president and that some allegedly tried to lock down the transcript on a separate computer system to keep it from view. >>> meanwhile, as this was playing out today, president trump behind closed doors here in new york city, and a recording now surfacing of what he said. furious and unloading, comparing the whistle-blower and white house sources to spies. and telling people in the room, "you know what we used to do with spies and treason." some in the room shocked. >>> the first major snowstorm set to hit. the winter storm warning tonight. several feet of snow. rob marciano with the track. >>> the stunning new numbe

the white house you went to for advice about whether you should turn over a complaint regarding the white house? >> mr. chairman, as i said in my opening statement, i believed that everything here in this matter is totally unprecedented. that individual works for me, therefore, it is my job to make sure that i support and defend that person. >> dana: one of the biggest take aways, it accuses the white house of putting the transcript of that call in a separate computer system mostly used for classified information. it reads in part, quote, in the days following the phone call, i learned from multiple u.s. officials that senior white house officials had intervened to, quote, lock down, unquote, all records of the phone call, especially the official word for word transcript of the call that was produced as is customary by the white house situation room. this set of actions under scored to me that white house officials understood the gravity of what had transpired in the call. and president trump firing back after arriving back in washington in just the last hour, insisting again he did nothi

white house. >> corruption is not the business or it shouldn't be of the white house or anyone in it. >> the white house decides to do what their privileged communications and information is i believe the business of the white house. >> do you believe that's true even if that communication involves crime or fraud? i'm sure you're aware there's an exception to any claim of privilege. privilege can't be used to conceal crime or fraud. >> any crime or fraud or instances of wrongdoing should be referred to the justice department for investigation, as i did. >> the whistle-blower further alleges that white house officials told the whistle-blower they were directed by white house lawyers to remove the electronic transcript of the call from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored and instead it was loaded into a separate electronic system that is used, otherwise used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. one white house official described

was not the first time white house officials and white house lawyers had taken a step like that to hide essentially, to bury records of a presidential phone call with a foreign power. and that, of course, teed up this big question. well, what else is in the vault? what else have they hidden on that server? what else has this white house tried to lock down? what other evidence of the president's behavior or transcripts of the president's calls have they tried to wall off from access even for most u.s. officials and cabinet-level officials, not because they were national security sensitive, because they would make the president look bad because they reflect the kind of behavior that might get the president impeached? well, just before we got on the air, just moments ago "the washington post" published this new scoop having to do with not the phone call to the ukrainian president, which has led to the impeachment proceedings this week, but rather, the infamous meeting that took place in the oval office in 2017 between president trump and two senior officials from russia. this was may 2017.

you went to the white house first. so you went to the subject of the complaint for advice first about whether you should provide the complaint to congress? >> there were issues with this, a couple of things. one, it did appear that it has executive privilege. if it does have executive privilege, it is the white house that determines that. i cannot determine that as director of national intelligence. >> but in this case the white house, the president, is the subject of the complaint. he's the subject of the wrongdoing. were you aware when you went to the white house for advice about werther evidence of wrongdoing by the white house should be provided 0 to the congress? were you aware the white house counsel taken an unprecedented position the privilege applied to communications involving the president when he was president involving the president when he wasn't president, involving people who never served in the administration and people who never served in the administration even when not talking to the president? were

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the white house has not provided a comment.he classification of records about trump's correspondence with foreign officials is now central to house democrats' impeachment inquiry after an intelligence community whistle-blower claimed the white house placed a record of trump's july phone call with the president of ukraine on a highly classified computer system that few have access to. it is unclear whether documentation of trump's white house meeting with russian officials was placed into that system. >>> coming up, president trump unloads as the white house works overtime to contain the growing ukraine scandal. >> more on the president's late nights spent making the case on twitter that there is no controversy, while demanding to meet the whistle-blower and also accusing the chair of the house intel committee of treason. we're going to have the very latest on that, your morning's other top stories. all of it in less than three minutes. >>> after a weekend tweet storm, president trump is demanding to know the identity of the whi

the white house in crisis.er and what has been a nonstop and truly unprecedented day of news. president trump apparently furious about the whistle-blower who's allegations now threaten to bring about his impeachment. sources tell cnn mr. trump behind closed doors earlier today said he wanted to know who in his administration spoke with the whistle-blower and according to the "new york times" which first reported the story president trump then said "because that's close to a spy. you know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart with spies and treason, right? we used to handle it a little different than we do now." apparent reference to excuses as well as a misuse of the term treason, but the president's overthe top response comes in context, comes after a key moment in the trump

the white house counsel. >> the answer is no. was it your idea not to answer questions based under the executive privilege. >> i have not had any conversation with the white house counsel. >> so it is your idea -- >> i have not had any conversation with the white house counsel. i can only go by this letter. it was not my idea. >> not your idea. was it the president or anybody else that you felt that your communications were official white house communications. >> the white house has asked me not to disclose the substance of any president or advisers, and i recognize it is not my privilege, but i am respecting the white house decision. >> let me talk about the relationship with the president after he assumed office. how many times has the president asked you to meet alone in the house white. >> i am asked not to disclose. >> how many times has he requested? >> i don't know the answer of that. >> and how many times. >> i have been told not to discuss -- >> that he may have committed a criminal offense. >> i am

and concern inside the white house. that the whistleblower's allegations could seriously wound the president. one source familiar with the situation described to nbc a sense of total panic. all of this over the past week, to address this new reality. another person familiar with the discussion described the mood inside the white house as shell shocked. with increasing wariness that as the impeachment inquiry drags out, the likelihood increases that president trump could respond erratically and become quote unmanageable. according to "washington post," trump's advisers are envisioning a split screen strategy in the coming week, the post notes trump is considering stepping up the fall schedule of campaign rallies to galvanize supporters outside of washington and portray house democrats as liberal insiders focused on impeachment instead of governing. >> yesterday morning, at a private event at the u.s. mission, to the united nations, here is a video obtained by bloomberg. >> i want to know who is the person in the room tha

the white house probably didn't leak this out. >> i wouldn't say the white house. but there are individuals within the white house that may or may not. i don't know. but it would not be from an intelligence intercept, i will say that. >> i'm just saying the dissemination of these calls is supposed to be sacred, right? and it is important for the state department and appropriate agencies to get -- i'm not saying it is all the intelligence agency. but when a president talks to a foreign leader, it is confidential, there could be some facts of that conversation that you do want to get to the appropriate agencies, not just the ic. i want to be clear about that. but this is now the third time. i'm not a way of this ever happening before. of departments of call ykept de getting out. >> it is unprecedented and i would say that i think that the decision by the president yesterday to release the transcripts of his conversation with the president of the ukraine is probably unprecedented as well. >> well, we appreciate you being here and have fun -- be careful what you say be

who in the white house opposed him making that call?t now, our kristen welker, what's the latest? >> reporter: well, this comes from a team of us and carol lee and kelly o'donell who have been tau talking to our sources that we determine that john bolton was not on that call that you just mentioned of the july 25th phone call between president trump and the president of ukraine. in fact, he was opposed the president making that call in the first place in concerns that he'll veer off topic and air some of his personal agreements which he had been doing in the public square talking about accusations against corruption in ukraine. now, we have determined that vice president pience was not o that call, no indication of why. significantly though certainly to know who was actually a party in hearing that call in realtime. it comes in this remarkable day when we are hearing john bolton for the first time since he left the white house. bolton is making it clear that he disagrees with president trump's foreign policy on some key issues as it rel

and tt -- the white house hadn't commentedn it.oday the whistle-blower's complaint said white lawyers directed sff to move it there. today we got a statement from the white house sayg it was a national security council lawyer who told officials to move ite. th what that tells you is the white house council's office wants to say didn't have anything to do with this. it was a national security council lawyer w it. that's something people are going to be payayg attention to. >> we learned thatou the foreign affairs committee has subpoenaed the secretary of state, mikeul pompeo. we learn more about this whole operation if he's called to capitol hill?el >> absol what they reallyutant from pompeo is documen. they want to know more about foreign affairs officers a the embassy, in ukraine, who apparently expressed concern freelancing in that country as a sort of quasi diplomat. d, you know, what exactly the concerns were that they were they want to know more about, you know, giuliani is arguing that hell did this at the behest of the state

so donald trump can now spend his first night in the white house facing the absolute certainty that he will be impeached by the house of representatives because the democrats this week were already united on the fastest track to impeachment that we have ever seen after the sudden revelation of damning evidence. and today democrats discovered that house republicans have no defense of donald trump's conduct with the president of ukraine. there will be more hearings. there will be more witnesses. there will be more questions. but the die is cast. donald trump will become the third president in history impeached by the house of representatives because nothing in the upcoming hearings can change a word that donald trump said on that phone call to the president of ukraine. the inspector general of the intelligence committee believes there is evidence on that phone call that donald trump committed a federal crime. the crime of soliciting help from a foreign country for his re-election campaign. in that discussion with the united nations yesterday, much was made of the question of did donald t

>> it's a claim by the white house that the president's aides who served in the white house don't haven show up before a congressional testimony to testify, not because some questions involve executive privilege, but they don't even have to show up. >> in my experience, they show up, they go through the rote of saying what their assertion of privilege is for the record, for the cameras, in public, and then of course they don't have to testify. >> that's exactly right, that's how it's often been handled in the past the white house is claiming the aides don't even have to do that we should note the one time a court has looked at this claim before, the bush administration tried to assert this same idea in the investigation of the firing of u.s. attorneys a district judge held that there is no absolute immunity for white house aides. so this is a claim by the white house that has no basis in law that a court has ever found. i think with respect to all of these issues of executive privilege that you see the white house claiming, we've gotten into this debate whether it exists here, whether

the white house? >> i'm not authorized as the director of national intelligence to provide executive privilege information. i think it is prudent as a member of the executive branch to check to ensure that in fact it does not. >> i'm just asking about the sequencing here. did you first go to the white house to determine whether or not you should provide a complaint to congress? >> no, sir, that was not the question. the question was whether or not it has executive privilege, not whether or not i should send it on to congress. >> is the first party you went to outside of your office to seek advice, council, direction, the white house? >> i have consulted with the white house counsel and with th office of legal counsel. >> my question is, did you go to the white house first? >> i went to the office of legal counsel for advice, yes, sir. >> well, i'm asking who you went to first. office of just firjustice first the office white house first? >> excuse me, my office went to the office of legal counsel firs

chief white house correspondent john roberts' life at the white house with more on that one. she said she's very excited. >> yeah. one of the reasons why is because a central part of the whistle-blower complaint appears to have been confirmed. the white house confirming what we knew to be the case yesterday, and that is that lawyers of the white house -- we don't know if it's a white house counsel's office or lawyers for the national security council -- directed the transcript of the president's call with president zelensky of ukraine to be moved to a highly secure computer system. the question is, why was it moved? to back was this a one-off directive, or is it standard operating procedure at the white house to keep all transcripts with foreign leaders on the system? the white house will not talk about that aspect of it. all we know right now is that the transcript was moved, but we have no idea of the context of why it was moved. it is the case that early in the administration phone calls that the president had with then- then-australian prime minister trumbull and the then

i mentioned the white house notes today that were released by the white house. notes from the president's call with the president of ukraine. i mean, it's right there in black and white that president trump in fact did what democrats are accusing him of doing and why they have brought impeachment proceedings against him. in the notes released by the white house, the president overtly does ask ukraine for help digging up dirt against president trump's potential 2020 democratic rival, joe biden. "there's a lot of talk about biden's son. that biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that, so whatever you can do with the attorney general, meaning with bill barr, that would be great." at this point i feel like i need to apologize. i hereby apologize. last night on this show i said somewhat cavalierly that while we were expecting the white house to release notes of this phone call today, there was no reason to expect that the trump white house would allow for the release of any notes from this call that implicated the president and the

he was not a white house aide. usually executive privilege is asserted when it pertains to information people in the white house are giving the president. two, communications he had with the president even before he became attorney in the transition could also fall under executive privilege. that is a really extreme interpretation. and to the questions that laura raises are all the questions we would want to know from corwin lewandowski, and the big question is, is he going to answer any of them? if he follows to the letter the instructions that have been given to him by the white house counsel, he's not going to answer some of these most important questions about what the president told him to do. >> all right, everyone stand by. we're going to continue this conversation. right now we're looking at live pictures from capitol hill. you can see corwin lewandowski there in the judiciary committee room. this hearing set to get underway. we're expecting opening remarks here any moment. >>> also developing, a cnn source

the white house in crisis. i am jake tapper in washington. ith breaking news in our politics lead. sources tell cnn that house democrats could move forward with articles of impeachment against trump by thanksgiving. house members are told to prepare to return to washington during the recess scheduled to begin in a few hours. all of this as we learn more about the whistle-blower complaint at the heart of the impeachment push, and potential efforts to block congress from seeing the complaint. sources tell cnn justice department lawyers were alerted to existence of the complaint more than a week before the document was referred to the proper department to ascertain whether a criminal investigation needed to begin. democrats are now demanding answers as to why the delay. we have more breaking news today with the trump administration admitting another key allegation in the whistle-blower complaint is accurate, though they moved the transcript to a secure computer system, typically reserved for highly seek reat the time -- secretive information. ind

the white house in crisis. in less time than what would be your typical school day we've seen allegations from an intelligence community whistleblower that the president of the united states, according to the whistleblower, abused his power by leaning on a foreign leader to investigate trump's political rival. we heard that the white house tried to bury that transcript, using a server only intended for actual intelligence secrets and now we have some new reporting in the "new york times" of a president so angry that this all got out, he is seemingly longing for the death penalty for the officials in his own administration who cooperated with the whistleblower. take a listen to the audio obtained by the los angeles times. >> who is the person who gave the whistleblower the information? because that's close to a spy the you know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart, right, with spies and treason? eused to handle it a little differently than we do now. >> a whistleblower complaint about president

bush white house and state department elise jordan.lus the former chief spokesman for the justice department matt miller. let me start with "the washington post" reporters who join us, ashley parker and robert costa to both of you. take us through what you and your colleagues are reporting this hour about that whistleblower complaint at the center, really the origins of the impeachment, if you will, being transmitted as we speak to at least one of the intelligence committees. robert, we'll start with you. >> nicole, i'm here outside of the house of representatives just a few steps away. and they're reviewing this whistle-blower complaint starting at 4:00 p.m. today. and this all comes ahead of the acting dni coming to capitol hill on thursday. and there is much concern in both democrat and republican camps about whether he will be candid, what he will reveal about the extent of this whistleblower complaint. and "the washington post" my colleagues reveal in their report in significant tensions inside of this administration about how to

white house?> i have consulted with the white house counsel eventually, we also consulted with the department of justice office of legal counsel. >> and my question, did you go to the white house first? >> i went to the office of legal counsel for advice. i'm asking you went to first. did you go to department of justice first, or the white house? >> i went to the office -- excuse me. my team, my office went to the office of legal counsel first to receive whether or not the matter in the letter in the complaint might meet the executive privilege. they viewed it and said we determined that it appears to be executive privilege and until executive privilege is determined and declared, i cannot have the authority to be able to send that forward to the committee. i worked with the office of legal counsel for the past several weeks to get resolution on this. it's a very deliberate process. >> i'm still trying to understand the chronology. you first went to the other counsel, then you went to white house

>> the white house is essential reeling from the way this has developed. you're seeing that the in the president's twitter feed, lashing out, calling for the chairman of the house intelligence committee to resign, saying adam schiff needs to be investigated, but also going after this whistle-blower, trying to create these credibility questions, saying a lot of what was in their complaint was inaccurate, when actually when you read through that nine-page complaint, a lot of what they said mirrors what was released -- that complaint was filed long before the white house standpoint decided to release the transcript. people that we have spoken with, what we reported a few days ago, is they believe the president is kind of indenialabout the situation he's facing. poppy and jim, we have only heard move of that in the recent days, several voices saying they don't think that the president understands what he is facing. that's something they're trying to get the president to come to grips with right now. >> indicakaitlan collins, thank >>> thanks, great to have you

president of abusing his power and further accuses the national security structure around him in the white house of trying to cover it up. the complaint directed to the heads of the house and senate intelligence committees was filed august 12, about two weeks after trump's phone call. quote, i have received information from multiple u.s. government officials that the president of the united states is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 u.s. election. this interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the president's main domestic political rivals. the president's personal lawyer, mr. rudolph giuliani is a central figure in this effort. attorney general barr appears to be involved as well. the whistle-blower notes there were -- they were not a direct witness to the events described, but that the details came to light over a period of some four months. they add this, quote, in the days following the phone call, i learned from multiple u.s. officials that senior white house officials had intervened

these are right in front of the white house on the far side of the square. throughout the spring the national women's party would hold protests and were finally kicked out of the house, the cosmos club. the cosmos club-- the national women's party moved to this side of the square. they would stand at the lafayette statue and every time the president gave a speech about democracy which was every 10 or 15 minutes, they would burn it, burn the words and set them on fire in front of the white house as well. the banners as president wilson is deceiving the world when he appears as the prophet of democracy. president wilson has opposed those who demand democracy be as responsible for the disenfranchisement of millions of americans and we in america know this. the world will find him out. these were called the watchfire's. women continue to be arrested for lighting a fire after dark and other completely made up things. by all of 19 eight team, there are a couple of votes that don't quite make it there. it doesn't quite get there. 1918 a new congress is elect did and

the white house probably didn't leak this out. >> i wouldn't say the white house. but there are within the white house that may or may not. i don't know. but it would not be from an intelligence intercept. i will say that. >> i'm just saying the dissemination -- the dissemination of niece calls is supposed to be sacred, right? and it is important for. >> yes, sir. >> the state department and appropriate agencies to get. i'm not saying it's all the intelligence agency. but when a president talks to a foreign leader it's confidential, the contents are confidential. there could be some facts of the conversation that you do want to get to the appropriate agency, not just the i.c. i want to be clear about that. but this is now the third time. i'm not aware of this ever happening before, of contents of calls like this getting out. >> i -- i really don't know, ranking member. i'm not aware. i don't have the numbers to -- it just seems to me though it is unprecedented. i would also say that i think the decision by the president yesterday to release the transcripts of his c

the white house probably didn't leak this out. >> i wouldn't say the white house, but there are individuals within the white house that may or may not. i don't know. but it would not be from an intelligence intercept. i will say that. >> right. i'm not -- i'm just saying the dissemination of these calls is supposed to be sacred, right? and it is important for the state department and the appropriate agencies to get -- i'm not saying it's all the intelligence agency, but when a president talk toes a foreign leader, it's confidential. those contends are confidential. there could be some facts of that conversation that you do want to get to the appropriate agency, not just the -- not just the ic. i want to be clear about that. but this is now the third time. i'm not aware of this ever happening before. of contents of calls like this getting out. >> i really don't know, ranking member. i'm not aware. i don't have the numbers to -- it seems to me that it is unprecedented and i would also say i think the decision by the president yesterday to release his transcripts of the conversation with the p

white house. . we show the entire hearing, and you can read the whistleblower complaint at c-span.org. [gavel bangs] chairman schiff: the committee will come to order. without objection, the chair reserves the right to reassess the hearing at any time. the presidential oath of office requires the president of the united states to do two things. faithfully execute his or her office, and protect and defend the constitution. that oath, of course, cannot be honored if the president does not first defend the country. if our national security is jeopardized, if our country is left undefended, the necessity to faithfully execute the office becomes moot. where there is no country, there is no office to execute. and so, the duty to defend the nation is foundational to the president's responsibilities. but what if this second responsibility to defend the constitution -- what does that really mean? the founders were not speaking of course of a piece of parchment. rather, they were expressing the obligation o

, a statement from the white house. the white house is acknowledging for the first time that official did direct that key documents related to the ukraine call, that they be filed in a separate classified system. the statement from the senior white house officials on this is national security council lawyers directed that the classified document be handled appropriately. just your reaction to that? >> right. well, you know, it's nice of them to admit what we all found out by dragging the information out through what we've had to go through the last few days. the it's a highly unusual way to handle a pretty routine call with a foreign head of state. i was the white house staff secretary. i handled all nsa information, except for the brief. i've seen memos like this. you don't codeword classify something like that. codeword documents are among the most sensitive information you can imagine. the raid against bin laden, things that will cost somebody their life if it gets out. so that fact that they were classified in that

lawyers actually went to the white house to review the transcript of the call, since the white house was also aware of these allegations. those lawyers, after going to the white house and listening to this, alerted officials at d.o.j.'s criminal division, and the deputy attorney general's office, that attorney general bill barr was in fact mentioned on that call. it wasn't until, though, more than a week later, that the inspector general for the intelligence community actually officially referred this matter to the department of justice. now, the justice department has previously said that bill barr was informed, when that criminal referral was delivered to d.o.j., in late august, and that barr was minimally involved in this issue. and of course, we know that the d.o.j. ultimately decided not to open a full-blown criminal investigation into potential campaign finance violations stemming from that july 25th phone call. so these new details, jim, really about the d.o.j.'s early awareness of the allegations, they raise even more questions now, about any potential involvement from the at

involving white house lures and other white house officials so essentially submarine evidence ofdent's behavior by hiding it in a secret server that wasn't designed to hold that kind of information, when you look at the balance of that actual allegation and the continuing evolving story we have got about how the whistleblower's allegation was handled at all levels of government in the intelligence agencies by the intelligence community inspector general, by the dni, the involvement of the justice department, the involvement of the white house council's office, are you equally concerned about those two things? how do you feel about the handling of the complaint vis-a-vis the overall serious about what he or she is alleging. >> some of these actors acted credibly. i think his legal analysis on its face appears sound. there could be potentially, you know, reasonable disagreement by lawyers parsing the words of a statute, but i'd have to say that the department of justice's interpretation seemed a little contorted to determine that disclosure to congress was not mandated. but in any

went to the white house first. you went to the subject of the complaint for advice first about whether you should provide the complaint to congress. there were issues within this -- a couple of things. it did appear that it has executive privilege. if it does have executive privilege, it is the white house that determines that. i cannot determine that as the director of national intelligence. >> but in this case, the president is the subject of the complaint. he's the subject of the wrongdoing. were you aware when you went to the white house for advice about whether evidence of wrongdoing by the white house should be provided to the congress, or you aware that the white house counsel has taken the unprecedented position that the privilege applies to communications involving the president when he was president involving the president when he wasn't president, involving people who never served in the ministrations, involving people who never served in the administration even when they aren't even talking to the minis